Researchers Confirm Indian Man Does Not Eat or Drink … Anything

Our fingers are crossed that this doesn't become the next Hollywood diet craze.

An 82-year-old Indian man you may have read about, Prahlad Jani, claims to have not had anything to eat or drink since age 12. He claims that after deciding to devote his life to a Hindu goddess, she rewarded him by feeding him a mysterious, life-giving elixir. Scientists are baffled, and they've just finished another round of observation on the yogi, keeping him under 24-hour surveillance for fifteen days.

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Sure enough, Jani did not consume water or food the entire time — and he didn't use the toilet at all, either. The researchers, doctors at Sterling Hospital in Ahmedabad, India, said they were confounded by the fact that he didn't pass any urine or stool, saying that this would normally lead to kidney failure, but that Jani was as healthy as someone half his age.

Many are skeptical, with one American dietitian quoted as saying, "He might psychologically be able to handle this, but it doesn't matter if you've done it once or done it 20 times. Every time he's doing it he's setting himself up for nutritional deficiencies."

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Considering we can barely last between lunch and dinner without a nice afternoon snack, we'll be waiting anxiously for researchers to figure out just how the heck this guy is still alive.

For more, watch the first part of this clip from a 2006 Discovery Channel documentary, The Boy with Divine Powers, about a Nepalese boy who lives without food or water for long periods — Jani and a doctor who has studied him are interviewed in the first five minutes.